Land Rudder - A dolly wheel for moving your boat on land
By Steve Henshall #218 "Muthaducker" (4ar)
I've been a Ducker for about 3 years. I’m an Expat and I live in the Philippines and have loved sailing since my early 20’s. Since I live on the beach on Pangangan Island in Bohol it makes sense to have a Duck. I built PDR #218, Muthaducker, 3 years ago and only just recently got my boat maidened. When I built her I didn't think about moving her around and I neglected to put handles on the boat and she’s a bit heavy to manhandle by myself so I came up with a gadget to make it a bit easier.
Since I have built several small boats I have found that keeping things such as the rudder mount the same on all of them makes switching things around easy and various parts can be easily be adapted from one boat to the next.
The “Land Rudder” follows this reasoning and will work on any boat that’s not too heavy. It will work on multiple boats if you use a universal rudder mount on your projects.
It consists of a base plate (I used a piece of old center board that was handy cut to 12” x 12”), with forks made from scrap 2” x 2” I had laying around, a wheel from a toy peddle car I picked up for 20 pesos ($0.45 USD) at the scrap yard in Cahayag, some 1” stainless steel pipe I flattened, bent and drilled for the mount it’s self , 3 stainless steel 3/8” bolts and nuts and several sheetrock screws for assembly. The axle is a piece of smooth re-bar left over from a building project.
The pictures show the unpainted project and assembly is pretty obvious. I used screws and bolts so it can easily be taken apart for repairs if and when needed.
In use it’s so easy it’s silly. The rudder assembly is removed and the Land Rudder is installed in its place. If it takes you longer than 10 seconds you’re loafing. I just pull the pin, remove the rudder assembly in one piece, line up the holes on the LR and re-insert the pin. Wallah!!! We are ready to move to the beach.(Dont forget to replace the rudder before launch...)
When I had my Featherwind I used to get the neighbors to help. It usually cost me a gallon of Tuba (Rice Wine) and a couple of bottles of Coke. This works fine and it’s a lot cheaper. Yep. I’m a Tightwad!
If you want to try this and have any questions you can contact me through the pdracer member list.
Clear skies and fair winds to all.
Steve. AKA: Cybernaught